Part 4

Kevin awoke to his parents shaking him. They threw one question after another at him, and he simply told them that he was too tired to answer right away. He could tell that his parents had spotted his wounds, but he rolled to his side before they could say anything.

When Kevin awoke for the second time, his parents were at his side and his mom was in the process of asking his dad what that terrible smell was. Kevin cleared his throat and they looked down upon him. For a few minutes they cooed over his injuries, then demanded to know what happened.

“Well,” the young Kevin started, “Trixie was trying to go outside, but I wouldn’t let her until I fed grandma. When I came back downstairs to let her out, she scratched me and ran off.”

His mom reached down to hug him and rubbed his back. “I don’t suppose you want anymore cats, now do you?” she asked.

“No, no more cats.”

Thanks to his grandmother, he had to blame his first pet on what she had done and he regretted it ever since. Whenever he saw a cat, it reminded him of that incident. To this day, he never talked about Trixie in interviews. His parents suspected that it was child trauma and that he was angry with cats, but that certainly was not the case.

Kevin turned on his heels and jogged back to his house. Gerry would be up soon he knew, and as grouchy as hell. One of these days, Kevin thought, she’s going to make me so mad that I’ll have to kill her myself. He didn’t really mean that, and he cursed at himself for thinking so evilly. Gosh, what would Brian think? He wasn’t a killer…was he?

Kevin forgot about it for a moment as he searched for his keys. He always locked the door in case that crazy bastard found a way to use the stairs and come down after him.

Nah, that’ll never happen, he convinced himself, I’ve seen her spine and it’s in no shape to take her anywhere.

The key fit into the lock perfectly, but it took Kevin a few tries to actually get it open. He would turn it, but the lock wouldn’t budge. The second time he tried, the knob wouldn’t even turn. Someplace deep down inside of him took this as a bad omen, but he mistakenly ignored it.

I’m being silly, he thought to himself. First I dedicate a whole free afternoon to thinking about all the horrible things she’s done to me, now I think there’s something out to get me.

After Kevin took the key out of the lock, he found that the door opened by itself. Inside sat his grandmother, with a smug look on her face. To muster his shock, Kevin put on his best stern look.

“I thought we had an agreement,” he said through gritted teeth. She just smiled her kind of smile and stared at him. Kevin had walked up to her, trying to act unafraid. Gerry reached out and swiped at him, but Kevin was too fast for her. He watched her scramble to her feet and attempt to walk toward him. She reminded him of a zombie because of the way she was walking. Arms out, hands bent at the wrists and a face that looked like it had been decaying for some time.

Kevin slowly backed away from her. He tried to lure her back upstairs by pretending to be afraid of her. Despite the fact that she had the advantage, she fell for it.

When he got to the second floor, he didn’t stop at her room. He kept on walking backwards, stopping only to pull down a second set of stairs. Carefully, he backed onto them, watching Gerry struggle as she tried to follow him.

The adrenaline rush that Kevin felt was incredible. He couldn’t really understand what was going on, but somehow he had a plan. Gerry followed him wherever he led her. Fortunately, she couldn’t move any faster than a slow walk, giving her no time to think about her next move.

Kevin turned the corner in the attic, still walking backwards. Now he was heading back to the staircase with Gerry in hot pursuit. He was just doing what his body told him to do, following his orders like an obedient servant.

Still backwards, Kevin sat on the ground and pried the attic door open again. For some reason unbeknownst to him, he had to be backwards in order to perform the technique correctly. Gerry was just a couple of steps away now. Kevin felt that this was his final chance. He leapt backwards onto the staircase behind him and shut the door just as Gerry reached it.

Moving swiftly, Kevin attempted to lock the door. Before he could do it, he had to retract his hand. Somehow Grandma Gerry had gotten hold of a bread knife, and had stuck it all the way through the door with incredible brute force. It pierced the area between Kevin’s thumb and forefinger, bringing about pain with incredible magnitude.

Grandma Gerry had forgotten something crucial. Kevin was from her own bloodlines, and was athletic to boot. He locked with his foot, trying to ignore the pain in his hand. After he jumped down the staircase, he knocked it down with his other foot and it fell down with a loud clatter.

But Kevin didn’t stay long enough to hear it fall. He could hear his grandmother beating against the door and refused to let himself receive another injury from her. This was the final one, he promised himself. After this, he was going to refuse to do Gerry Duty, no matter how much his mother begged and pleaded.

Kevin cleaned his injury for what felt like the thousandth time in his life. He had a wife who loved him, a wonderful career, and people who can’t even speak English screaming his name. This little thing would not conquer his fears for long, because he was determined to finally defeat it. Then Kevin would call his wife.

Part 5
Back to the Terror Trilogy

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